Troublesome Drabbles
by Nuklear Firefly
Summary: All those fics that were just too short to post alone. :D Wide variety of subject matter, mostly Team 10 or Team Gai centric. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hopefully review!
1. Team 10 : Shadow Puppets

**Shadow Puppets**

Yamanaka Ino was wide awake and terribly proud of herself. It was Team 10's first real mission outside the village, even if it was only to go to a nearby farm to help build fences for cattle. The first real time outside Konoha, and she was on first watch. It was up to her to wake up the others for their watches, up to her to alert them if rogue ninja suddenly sprang from the bushes and attacked. Not that that had any sort of plausibility, what with the countries allied, but you never knew if someone had a vendetta against cattle fences.

She stared hard at the flickering campfire, the flames dancing over the crackling and snapping logs, bathing their makeshift camp in wavering orange light. Chouji was on the opposite side of the circle of light from her, spread-eagle with an empty chip bag balanced on his rising and falling gut. Shikamaru's back was turned to her, the symbol of the Nara clan on his jacket shifting from time to time as he tried to get comfortable on the hard ground. Asuma had leaned up against a tree, head bowed to his chest as he snored loudly (so much for stealth), cigarette for once not balanced between his lips. Ino smiled. You almost couldn't tell how obnoxious they were when awake. Almost.

She loved knowing that they trusted her so well already, enough to all sleep so deeply, but the night was so quiet and dark and boring. Her eyelids fluttered. Determinedly, she sat up ramrod-straight, glaring at the flames as if it were their fault that she was so tired. It was nearly midnight. Nearly time to wake up Asuma for his watch. She could make it.

From the corner of one tiredly burning eye, she caught a flicker of movement. Stiffening, reaching for a kunai, she turned her head to see what it was.

A shadow, tall, imposing, had reared up against the tree next to Asuma-sensei's. Without thinking twice, she hurled the kunai in the direction the shadow came from, hearing only the thunk of wood as it hit. She whirled, leaping to her feet, adrenaline making her forget her tiredness. Must've been a switching techni--

Confused blue eyes beheld her kunai embedded in yet another tree's bark. Not a log, as she could expect of a kawarimi. Just a tree.

And the quaking shoulders of one Nara Shikamaru, who was truly abysmal at hiding laughter. The looming shadow beside Asuma shifted to look like a giant, dancing rabbit. Ino snarled and lobbed another kunai at her teammate, who rolled over to dodge, now laughing openly. She was suddenly aware that Chouji was snickering as well, though Asuma's snores only grew louder.

"You idiots!" she hissed at them, and Chouji too started to laugh out loud. "Shut up! You can't just joke about that kind of thing!"

Shikamaru's laughter trailed off as he concentrated, the rabbit's ears drooping. Chouji laughed harder. Ino wondered if Asuma would mind waking up to find two thirds of his team killed in cold blood. Instead of murdering them, however, she stormed over and gave Shikamaru a fierce kick to the side. He yelped, the rabbit vanishing.

"Oi, you didn't have to kick me," he grumped, glaring up at her fiercely.

"You didn't have to scare the crap out of me, either!" she replied. Stooping, she put an end to Chouji's laughter with a well-aimed rock to the head.

"Hey, I didn't do anything!" the Akimichi boy yowled. Ino, seething, turned and sat down heavily where she had been all night until then.

"You two idiots can keep watch. I'm going to sleep."

"Isn't it Asuma's turn...?" Shikamaru asked, glowering at her.

"He deserves to sleep longer for putting up with us. You don't."

She layed down and closed her eyes, not missing Shikamaru's muttered "troublesome girl," nor the chance to lob a rock at him as well.

The Nara was soon asleep anyhow, and Chouji lasted a bit longer. One of Asuma's eyes opened, a slight grin tugging at one corner of his mouth as he glanced over his fitfully resting team.

'Looks like we'll be working on team dynamics for a while.'


	2. Team Gai : Rain

**Rain**

Thunder crashed overhead, deafeningly loud, as the blue-white glare of lightning illuminated the field. Tenten stood in the midst of the latest slaughter, bodies of the Amegakure ninjas surrounding her, weapons slick and gleaming with rain and blood, and laughed at the irony of it all. It wasn't funny, she knew, but she laughed anyway; laughed until she was red in the face and short of air and aching in the gut and sides. Lee's already wide eyes went wider in shock behind his ANBU mask (a bear) while Neji (his mask a hawk) shook his head. They both knew it was only a matter of time before the missions took their toll, and here it was.

The field they stood in was littered with bodies, used scrolls, weapons of all shapes and sizes, small craters from Neji's kaiten, and shredded bandages from Lee's Lotus attacks. The Rain nins' umbrellas lay scattered in the tall, bloodstained grass, their senbon sticking out of any and all surfaces at odd angles. The three ANBU were splattered with blood, both their own and of foreign origin, their uniforms torn and masks looking worse for the wear. Tenten's cat mask had three senbon poking out of one cheek, giving the impression of whiskers, but the tips were darkened with poison. She had been lucky that none of them hit her skin.

It had been, overall, one hell of a fight. The Rain nin had not only an advantage in numbers, but had attempted an ambush as well. They hadn't known that one of their pursuers was a Hyuuga, hadn't known that he had seen them long before they had seen him, and had fallen victim not only to Tenten's impeccable aim but also to Neji's Gentle Fist. The three ANBU had clustered together, all three of them short range fighters but that was fine in cases like this, and let the wave of attackers crash down on them.

Lee had attacked so fast that he was a blur of green and white, bandaged fists pummeling their attackers. Quite a few bones snapped under the impact of his punches and kicks, crunches and yowls of pain filling the air. Some assailants fell back under the onslaught, hands flying through seals to make the already pouring sky rain down senbon as well as sheets of water. Neji's kaiten lit up the field, the whirlwind of brilliant blue chakra knocking aside the senbon easily. Tenten had long ago learned to get over the odd sensation of drowning that tended to accompany Kaiten, her hands forming the seals necessary for her Soushou-ryu attack as the chakra swirled around her. The scrolls she used for the technique had gotten bigger as she too had grown and now summoned forth five times the weaponry as during her first Chuunin exam.

When the blue glare of chakra and lightning had died away, she had leapt up into the pouring rain, smoky dragons twining around her, and reached out towards the scrolls for her weapons. Kunai, senbon, maces, katanas, bombs, grenades, exploding tags, scythes, and shuriken bombarded the Rain nin, amidst other gleaming weaponry. Tenten's chocolate brown eyes narrowed behind her mask as she tried to keep up with her many moving targets without hitting Lee or Neji, which she managed solely through practice. She had landed on her feet and just looked up, eight kunai in her hands, to attack again when the poisoned senbon embedded themselves in her mask.

While distracted, another Rain nin charged up to attack her. She wouldn't have reacted fast enough on her own, but Neji had covered her, hands soaring over the man's tenketsu, sealing off his chakra. One final jab to the chest with one hand and to the gut with the other made the other man fall to the grass, coughing up blood violently. Neji hauled Tenten to her feet, shouting over the crash of the thunder at her to keep close to him. She understood the unspoken plea: _Cover my blind spot. _She stayed close enough behind him so that his sole blind spot was guarded, far enough so that she could throw her kunai at someone charging up on Lee while he was landing from a Lotus attack.

And the battle raged on. Tenten's biggest scroll went to the effort of taking down a small mob that had ganged up against Lee, most of Neji's chakra went into a 256-Point Strike, Lee wore himself out by opening five of the Gates, probably doing considerable damage to himself, but he had closed them after Tenten had saved him. She and Neji covered their weakened partner against the last three nin, tired, bloodstained, and drenched to the bone by the driving rain. Neji's mask was askew as he landed silent but powerful hits on one of the ninjas. Tenten didn't have enough range to throw the last of her kunai, so she stabbed it into one man's neck instead, watching as he fell with a gurgle. She drew her katana, a token weapon of any ANBU, and drove it into the final ninja's gut. He fell, and there he lay, twitching, when she had started to laugh.

The rain was already washing the three ANBU of the blood they had previously been drenched in. They would have to pile up the bodies, burn them or bury them, and take back the stolen scroll that had been the source of this entire mission. A powerful, sealed scroll, meant to stay locked up in Konohagakure, hidden.

Tenten had her doubts that the ink remained on it anymore, with how much rain was coming down. They had fought the Rain ninjas, in a torrential downpour, over a scroll that probably hadn't even, to use a bad pun, weathered the battle.

It was worth a good laugh in her book, as well as worthy of letting her knees give out beneath her, sitting down heavily in the mud, and sobbing.

It wasn't that she had never killed a man before or felt that this was a waste of life; she never would have made it to the rank of ANBU if such a thing daunted her. A mission was a mission, and if that included killing a fellow ninja, then so be it. She did what her Hokage asked of her.

It wasn't that she thought the mission was pointless or a failure; the rain had been a freak coincidence. How could they have known that the sky would open up and dump water down on the scroll, washing the letters right off of it? Had it not rained, they would have fought the battle the same, taken the scroll back to Konoha, put it back in its rightful place to wait for someone else to come along and steal it some day. That had been the mission, rain or shine, and they would do what was asked of them. No mission was ever pointless, and it was only a failure when you couldn't bring back / protect / retrieve whatever it was you were supposed to. They would bring it back, alright, and that was the only order given.

It wasn't even that she mourned the state of her weapons, dulled and notched, hidden and stuck in various surfaces, bloodstained and charred and probably gearing up to rust in the downpour. Weapons could always be replaced, even that favorite kunai (a 'good luck charm' that had gotten her through her second Chuunin exam) that was now stuck fast in some complete stranger's skull.

In fact, she didn't know _what _it was that made her laugh and sob all at once, clinging desperately to Neji when he came over and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. It was just the irony, she supposed, the recurring theme of rain in that one single battle. One rain defeated, one rain washing away all traces of the other; had the rain triumphed in the end? Was this some kind of forewarning?

Her summoned weapons were vanishing, fading away and saving everyone the trouble of having to pick them up. All that was left were the shuriken and kunai from her pouch, which would have to be picked up eventually or everyone would know that the Weapons Mistress of Konoha had been in the battle; nobody else could make such precise hits, driving a kunai deep into a man's temple or lodging shuriken into various pressure points on another. Lee had already set to work gathering up the bodies, tired as he was, while Neji tried to calm their hysterical teammate.

"You have done your job, Tenten," he assured her, patting her back soothingly as she whirled around and sobbed against his chest. "The Rokudaime will be proud."

And it was this assurance that they told themselves every time, that got them through the most insane and impossible missions.

Rokudaime will be proud.

_Author's Notes: Ah, this one's a little mooky. I don't like it all that much, but I had wanted to play with the rain element for a while, so this was what came out. (I am, clearly, not that good at angst. XD;;)_


	3. TemaShika : Banana Pineapple

**Banana Pineapple**

Nara Shikamaru, twenty-one, the only one of the Rookie 9 who was still a Chuunin, married to the scariest woman he had ever met, was in heaven.

The sky overhead was a brilliant sapphire blue, fluffy white clouds scudding past slowly. The grass he was lying on was springy and cool, the air warm but not humid. Chouji and Asuma were nearby, both having escaped their wives for the day, the Akimichi happily munching on potato chips while their old sensei idly smoked a cigarette. They barely got a chance to get together anymore, between married life, missions, and children (Chouji had a one year old daughter, Asuma had rambuncious four year old triplets, Shikamaru had his first daughter on the way). Shikamaru smiled, the breeze making the grass wave lazily up at the clouds, Asuma's cigarette smoke drifting upwards as another chip bag crinkled to the ground.

All was in perfect balance; that is, until Shikamaru heard his wife screaming at him.

"--KAMARU, I KNOW you can hear me!"

He glanced back at Asuma and Chouji, the latter having paled considerably on his friend's behalf, the former giving a resigned shrug. So it goes. Shikamaru sighed miserably and started to sit up.

"If you don't open your eyes RIGHT NOW..."

He opened them. Something struck him as very odd. It dawned on him, a little belatedly as he was being literally kicked out the front door, that it was because it was still nighttime. The moon was still high in the sky, stars twinkling merrily. It was so late that the lampposts were extinguished, the street in pitch black darkness except for the golden patch of light streaming welcomingly from the doorway to his house. He blinked blearily at Temari, her outline visible in the glaring light, and winced as his wallet bounced right off of his head. Not another one.

These cravings were just getting ridiculous. He would tell her so, but the last time he'd dared to mention his thoughts out loud to her, she had hit him. Hard. He'd refrained ever since.

"What is it this time?" he asked wearily, through a yawn. Temari had long since learned to speak Shikamaru In The Wee Hours, so she understood the slurred blob of speech that sounded quite like 'waazi-eezyme?'

"Phish Food ice cream." It took the dazed Nara some time to figure out what she meant, the metaphorical light bulb going on after the door had been slammed shut. He felt around the dark street for his wallet, pocketed it, and stood up stiffly, trying to stretch away the haze of sleep still hanging around in his skull.

It didn't work.

As soon as he got moving, his feet took on a mechanical path and his eyes fluttered shut. He kept drifting right up until he walked face first into a door with a loud thump that left his nose smarting. He stood on the alien doorstep, rubbing his nose gingerly, trying to wake up yet again.

This happened every time. Temari seemed to wait for him to have a nice dream before getting another one of her cravings, then she'd wake him up and drive him out of the house at four in the morning to retrieve whatever it was.

He didn't even know wherehe could _find_ such a thing as Phish Food ice cream. Chouji would probably be best to ask about that.

And what were the odds that it was his door that he'd walked into?

Said door had opened and Akimichi Chouji, his best friend, stood in the doorway with a knowing smile on his chubby face.

"Temari again?" the Akimichi asked. Shikamaru nodded, giving a huge yawn. "Thought so. C'mon in. What's she after this time?"

"Phish Food ice cream or something like that..." Another yawn. Chouji nodded and led the way towards the huge Akimichi kitchen, tugged open the freezer, and handed Shikamaru a pint of ice cream. Shikamaru eyed it doubtfully for a moment, prying the lid off to peer at the contents.

"It's not really fish," Chouji said kindly, knowing that his genius friend tended to be quite a bit slower than usual in the dead of the night. Shikamaru accepted this answer with a nod, although he did give the ice cream a sniff before putting the lid back on.

"Thanks, Chouji. You're a good guy." Shikamaru smiled at his best friend, who grinned back.

"Anytime. You'd better hurry back or that'll melt."

And off Shikamaru was for home again, walking as fast as he could move his tired feet across the cobbles of Konoha, the pint of ice cream absolutely freezing his hand. Up until just a month ago, Temari hadn't been too bad (considering) with her mood swings. She'd been mostly very chipper, incredibly clingy (even Ino had been surprised with how much so), and would laugh at just about anything, but the cravings had been getting much more frequent. And her violent side had come back with a vengeance. He wasn't too sure if he would survive her pregnancy at this rate, since he hadn't gotten a full night's sleep in weeks.

He padded up the stairs and back into his house, shutting the door behind him quietly. Temari was curled up on the couch, one arm hanging over the edge, the other resting on her slightly swollen belly. One midnight blue eye cracked open and regarded him silently as he held up the pint in victory.

"Phish Food, just like you asked," he announced tiredly. The other eye opened and he backed up a step, knowing the murderous gleam all too well when he saw it.

"I didn't say Phish Food," she growled. "I said banana pineapple! Can't you even remember something simple like that!"

_How troublesome, _Shikamaru thought, not bothering to resist as his wife bodily hauled him from the house and kicked him right back out the door again. He landed on the carton of ice cream, squishing it quite effectively all over one shoulder.

When Akimichi Chouji opened his door a second time, he was quite surprised at the frozen, sugary, lazy mess that stood on his doorstep.

"Banana pineapple," was all it said. Chouji nodded kindly and retrieved another carton of ice cream, handed it over, and sweatdropped on his friend's behalf.

"Better luck this time."

"Mmf. Thanks."


	4. Team 10 : Diet

**Diet**

Ino isn't sure what she was expecting to happen to her friend on his mission to Sunagakure, but it sure as hell wasn't for him to return in a bloody mess, carried by that Temari girl. She and Chouji had waited at the gate for their friend's return, ready to take him out for barbeque, tease him relentlessly on yet another mission that he would have spent with the Sand nija. Both had nearly choked in shock when said Sand ninja appeared, Shikamaru over her shoulder, both drenched in blood.

Now they sit, all three of them, outside the emergency room of Konoha's extensive hospital. Shizune peeked out some hour or so ago, telling them of the damage: punctured lung, internal bleeding, broken bones, quite a bit of blood loss. Temari is alternately twiddling her thumbs and pacing impatiently, still in her bloodied clothes with stuck-on sand and leaves. Ino is rather surprised that the fan girl's temper isn't flaring anymore, as she had cursed up a storm at first. Ino smiles weakly, seeing the devotion to her friend and wondering why she wasn't swearing as well. She feels so hollow, so numb with shock, that she can barely string together a sentence at a time, let alone a complex string of obscenities. Temari's nerves of steel seem to be fraying slightly, but at least she can do _something _about it.

Chouji is all but inhaling bag after bag of potato chips, because he eats when worried or scared and both combined has a possibility of clogging the boy's arteries in one go. His frantic crunching, the bag's deafening crinkling, are the only sounds beyond Temari's stomping and occasional mutter about stupid lazy bastards believing in chivalry on a battlefield. (According to the story Temari had told when fairly calm, he had taken a hit aimed at her, smirking back and telling her that it was a man's duty to protect a woman -- Temari is still annoyed about it.) Ino can see the rotund boy's fear clearly in his eyes, when they flicker up from the bag's depths and to the locked emergency room door. The red light is still lit above it, as it has been for a good two hours.

Ino wonders idly about many things at once as they sit there in their near-silence. Where is his father? His mother? Asuma-sensei? How long will this take? Will he be okay? When he gets better (because he will get better, he's Shikamaru, he can't die, it'd be too troublesome), will he be even more inseperable from Temari for saving him again? Just how did Temari always seem to find him when he was in trouble? How come she and Chouji never did? _And when is that damn light going to go out?_

She doesn't realize that she has said the last thought out loud until Temari grunts an agreement to it and Chouji stands, crosses the waiting room, and sits down beside her. She stares at him quizzically, confused even as he holds out his precious bag of sour cream and onion chips for her.

"They help," he says kindly. "A bit. Want some?"

Ino stares down into the bag, at the grease gleaming off of its shiny foil insides, and can practically feel the fat leaping from the chips and into her hips. She's been on a diet for who-knows-how-long, and this would ruin everything.

She looks back up at Chouji, who smiles encouragingly.

"I don't mind," he insists. She knows he really does, that Chouji doesn't much care for sharing food with her (and who would with all the hell she's put him through over the years?), but she smiles nevertheless.

Screw the diet.

_Author's Notes: First of many challenges obtained from the book "The Writer's Block". The spark word was 'diet.' _


	5. Team Gai : 1Hour Photo

**1-Hour Photo**

The first frame is the day they all met each other, the day their genin team was proclaimed. Gai-sensei had gone and bought a camera to "capture the moments of their youth." Rock Lee has his arms thrown around the shoulders of his two teammates, a delighted smile splitting his face, thick eyebrows nearly at his hairline in glee. Hyuuga Neji is scowling fiercely, glaring at the camera, hitai-ate askew from Lee's tackle. Tenten is buckling under Lee's sudden weight, brown eyes wide in shock and aimed at the ground. Her arms are raised in an attempt to regain her balance, elbow nearly connecting with Lee's left cheek, but he doesn't seem to mind. Gai-sensei keeps this one in his wallet, showing it off proudly to anyone he can and saying that their youthful glow is visible in that picture. Neji claims that it's because he used the flash in bright sunshine, but Gai-sensei doesn't buy that.

In the second frame, the white-eyed Hyuuga clan prodigy is drenched in yellow paint and looks absolutely livid. He is frozen in time, face red with rage and embarassment, twelve years old and looking capable of murder. The wall behind him has a very splotchy paint job on it, yellow streaks here and there in a haphazard fashion, random patterns painted over later but visible in the captured moment. Konoha symbols dot the wall, a lemon-colored kunai and shuriken above the head of a hysterically laughing kunoichi girl. Her pink Chinese-style shirt is streaked with the same paint that has her hair cemented together, tears streaming down her yellow-spotted face. The younger green beast of Konoha is now yellow as well, the paint can upended over his bowl-cut. He seems amused, laughing from behind a curtain of paint.

Third frame, their second mission. Lee is on the ground, tied up in the leashes of six different small dogs. Four of them are sitting on him, two licking his face. Lee is flushed happily, laughing and petting two of the dogs. Tenten is rolling her eyes -- they're aimed at the top right corner of the photo -- and still standing, her own three dogs too busy sniffing each other to notice anything else. The three black labradors' tails are blurs from wagging so fast. Neji has five dogs, two of which are golden retrievers, all of which are sitting around the Hyuuga patiently as if they can sense that he won't take any silliness from them. His arms are folded boredly and he isn't looking at either teammate, his back turned to them both. Gai-sensei's fist is visible right next to Neji, out of focus as he shakes it at him, probably yelling at him to be more social or to at least _try _to be part of the picture. It obviously had no effect.

Fourth, they're at a lake, the sun glittering off the water's surface brilliantly. Neji is seated on a rock, legs crossed, arms folded over his chest, milky eyes closed. Somehow, he has been convinced to wear a bathing suit (black swimming trunks), but he is bone dry and so it's obvious that he hasn't even touched the water. Lee is in mid-cannonball from another rock, a blur of green and flesh tone and black, knees tucked up to his chest and arms wrapped around his legs. The only part of Tenten visible above the water is her head, her face tomato red in embarassment, hair down from its usual buns and braided, floating out behind her. She appears to be yelling at the camera (or Gai), the apparent source of Neji's amused smirk.

The fifth frame is Tenten's thirteenth birthday. She is smiling, cheeks flushed again, though from happiness rather than embarassment. A "birthday girl" hat is perched atop her head, right between the twin buns. Lee's arm is thrown around her shoulders again, this time in a hug and not a tackle, looking just as happy as she does with the candlelight of the birthday cake illuminating his face. He, too, has a party hat on, a second snapped over his left ear -- the second was supposed to be for Neji, who is hatless, a semi-annoyed look on his face. A gift for Tenten sits on his lap, unopened, wrapped in red foil paper. Gai and the camera are visible in the reflection of the shiny wrapping paper, one hand on the camera, the other held up in a thumbs-up.

The sixth frame seems to be a continuation of the fifth, since Lee still has the two hats on (though now he is leaning back in a chair and laughing) and Tenten still has hers on. She is now leaning over and giving Neji a kiss on the cheek (his face is now even redder than hers, white eyes wide), an unwrapped set of stainless steel kunai on her lap. The photo is on an odd angle, because Gai-sensei was laughing just as hard as Lee when it was taken. The three teammates can still hear his bellow of "young love!" whenever they see the picture. (Neji is annoyed to this day about it being taken.)

Seventh is another mission. This time, they're helping to rebuild a shop that burned down. The bare wood skeleton of the building stands in the foreground, Lee sitting up in the rafters with a bucket of nails beside him, hammer in one hand, waving down to the camera, mouth wide open (probably in a "Gai-sensei!"). Tenten looks like she's having the time of her life, armed and dangerous with a nail gun. A huge grin is spread across her face and she is completely unaware of the photo being taken. Neji has a plank of wood balanced on one shoulder and is completely ignoring the camera, too focused on making sure that the wood doesn't smack into the ground. The picture doesn't show that, seconds later, Lee lost his balance from waving too enthusiastically and toppled over backwards off the rafter, falling right onto Neji.

The eighth photo _does, _however, show Lee and Neji in the hospital, practically twins because of the bandages around Lee's head and Neji's right arm. Neji doesn't seem amused at the similarity. Lee is inhaling an apple that Tenten peeled for him while she works on a second for Neji, seated between the two hospital beds.

Ninth, Neji's thirteenth birthday. He's walking away from his teammates, head held high in his stifling pride. Lee is carrying two huge gifts, looking dismayed that Neji doesn't want a thing to do with them on his _birthday, _of all times. He and Tenten both have the ridiculous birthday hats on again, one each this time, and Tenten has the elastic band on a third drawn back, the tip of the cardboard cone pointed at Neji's head. One brown eye is closed so that she can aim more carefully, pink tip of her tongue sticking out from between pursed lips in her concentration.

The tenth photo is Tenten in a hospital bed this time, face pale, her arms and neck bruised from a particularly violent training session with Neji. He had gone overboard on sealing off her chakra, getting slightly frantic after she had accidentally stumbled upon his blind spot. He has a few bandages covering the cuts recieved from her kunai and shuriken (and one Soushouryuu attack), but is otherwise slumped in the chair beside her bed, arms crossed over his chest, raven hair hanging into his face as he sleeps. Tenten, too, is fast asleep, her head turned towards Neji, a soft smile on her face despite looking like hell warmed over. Lee is, for once, not present in the picture (mostly because he was standing behind Gai-sensei at the time, whispering surprisedly that he hadn't expected Neji to actually keep an eye on her like he'd asked).

Eleventh is Lee's fourteenth birthday. A puppy, gift from Gai-sensei, is on his lap and yapping happily as its new owner beams and scratches behind one of its ears. Tenten, too, is petting the puppy, saying something to Neji ("C'mon, you ice cube, you know you want to pet it too!"), who is rolling his eyes. He seems to have lightened up considerably, though, because a very faint smile is on his face. Wrapping paper is strewn all over the place, as expected with a child half Lee's age, his gifts sitting between the three teenagers seated in a circle on the carpet of Gai-sensei's apartment. Tenten's gift, a picture of Haruno Sakura, is propped up proudly directly in front of Lee. Neji's gift, a green sweater ("I'm sick of you being cold when we train during the winter. Wear it."), is folded carefully and set right behind the picture frame. The three are more a team than ever, evident just by their posture and how relaxed they are around one another.

The last photo is from Neji's ascension to the rank of Jounin and the party they had thrown for him. Gai-sensei had apparently forgotten about the camera for some time before finally using up the last spot on the roll of film, but it sits right beside the first photo in his wallet now, showing how his team has grown closer beautifully. Lee once again has his arm thrown around Neji's shoulders, mouth wide open yet again, this time in congratulations. He's smiling broadly for his eternal rival's accomplishment, unabashedly proud. Tenten's arms are around Neji as well, hugging him in fierce pride, her forehead pressed against his neck, laughing happily. Neji is smiling for once, one arm draped around Tenten's waist, the other arm occupied in trying to push Lee away halfheartedly. His hair is slightly mussed from Lee's giddy noogie attack when he had gotten the news. This time, even Neji can't deny the youthful glow in the photo.

_Author's Notes: I love this one. ; It turned out nicely and, as evident in the title, it took me about an hour to write. The challenge on it was "Write a story about the images on a roll of film using only 12, 24, or 36 paragraphs."_


	6. Sand Sibs : Family Portrait

**Family Portrait**

She's seven years old, already deadly, just like Daddy wants her to be. She carries around a black-lacquered fan, half her height and weight, with no trouble at all. It has nothing on the fan she will wield by fifteen, though it does have the same three "stars" that she is fond of threatening her opponents with. She can already mask emotions better than many shinobi twice her age, letting only arrogance shine through. To everyone, she is the cocky daughter of the Kazekage, wandering everywhere with her fan and her smirk and her attitude. She usually keeps to the Kazekage's palace, or her training grounds, but when the yelling between her father and uncle gets too unbearable, when the fights escalate to the point that she trembles just to hear them argue, she slips out of the palace and hides on the roof and pretends that the happy family portraits from back before Gaara was born were still true.

She decides one day, at the sound of shattering glass from the wing where Gaara usually stays, that she doesn't want to deal with it all anymore. She is sure that if she stays around the hatred raging between two family members for much longer that she'll be just like them, that she will fight like that with Kankurou. He drives her crazy half the time, but she is sure that she doesn't ever want to hate him like Daddy hates Uncle Yashamaru. She knows nothing of Gaara and feels like she should, that the other kunoichi may be flighty but at least they _care _about their family like she thinks families are supposed to care. She finally gives up, taking up her fan and fleeing the palace out into the blazing midday heat of the desert.

She darts through mazelike streets, between cement buildings radiating heat, and ducks down in a dead-ended alley, huddling at the end of it in the shadows, very sure that nobody will find her here. She is shaking, knowing that one day, Daddy will kill Uncle Yashamaru, and then the final strings keeping their family together will snap. Gaara will kill them all, probably Daddy first. She wonders, in her child's mind, that if she hadn't flushed the live goldfish last month if things would have been better. If she hadn't intentionally broken the wooden horse puppet Kankurou had been given for his fourth birthday before his eyes, would Uncle Yashamaru still be as happy as he was when _she _turned four? Her ears are still ringing as she crouches in her hiding place, hugging her knees to her chest to try and quell her shaking.

She doesn't want anyone to know about this. Daddy wouldn't be happy. Shinobi weren't supposed to have emotions, let alone fear of their own families. But then again, not many families had little brothers possessed by tanuki demons.

Kankurou shows up to bring her home around dinner time. She only knows the time by the fact that her stomach is making strange noises at her, twisting painfully because she hasn't eaten since early that morning. He looks down at her, five-year-old pudgy fists planted on his hips.

"Dad says you have to come home now," he says matter-of-factly. She scowls up at him and sticks out her tongue.

"Don't wanna go back to that place," she says, tone biting. "They'll just start yelling again and I don't wanna hear it anymore."

"Don't have no choice, do you?" Kankurou sneers. They've never been particularly close, constantly at each other's throats for one thing or another. "You can't sleep out here, the thieves'll get you."

"Don't care."

"I'll get your room. You gotta come back or its mine and I'll throw out all your stuff."

"No way. I'm not goin'."

They argue for a few more minutes before a minor scuffle breaks out. Kankurou doesn't have the puppets he's already learning to control with chakra, so he loses swiftly to her strong buffets of wind and her bony fists. He does manage to land a few punches on her, manages to pull her hair painfully, because he knows her weaknesses and has no shame yet because he's only five years old. He feels nothing about beating up girls, especially his sister, because she doesn't count as one.

They will eventually get over the extreme rivalry, but for the moment, they limp home seperately, too proud to lean on each other for help.

_Author's Notes: I like this one, but it's so weird. XD;; Wrote it while I had Pink's "Family Portrait" on repeat in my CD player, so it had a heavy influence. Credit goes to Pink for a couple lines ("Don't wanna go back to that place / But don't have no choice, no way"). The spark word for it was 'sibling rivalry.'_


	7. TemaShika InoShika : Virus

**Virus**

"Did the scroll work?" asked the voice of the most troublesome woman he knew.

"I can't tell..." answered the voice of the most talented healer his age. "He doesn't seem to have woken up at all..."

"If it doesn't work, what does that mean?"

"That he's got something different. Or the virus has gotten too advanced. Or maybe it mutated and..."

"Keep it down, would you?" he grumped, rolling over and away from their voices, still not opening his eyes. Damn women.

"You lazy BASTARD, you scared the hell out of me!" quoth Troublesome Woman, just as her foot came into sharp contact with the small of his back. He yelped in pain and glared at her over his shoulder. Too late; the blonde and pink-headed girls were leaving, both fuming.

"Stupid asshole can stay sick for all I care," Troublesome snapped.

"Waste of a scroll," Pink Hair agreed.

Shikamaru grumbled and closed his eyes again as the door slammed shut. Damn women should know better than to wake up a sick person.

_Author's Notes: Spark word was 'virus.' This was inspired by one of the Naruto RPGs I'm in, imamadenandomo at Greatestjournal. It was a scene that kept popping into my head, but we never wound up getting a chance to do it._

_I don't like this one much, but I'm amused that it works for either InoShika or TemaShika, so whatever your poison is, it works. :D_


	8. Team 10 : Best Friends

**Best Friends**

Shikamaru found tears streaming down his face for the second time in one day when he walked into the hospital room. Chouji lie on the bed, nearly as pale as the sheets, eyes closed and hair unbound from the hitai-ate for once. He was skinny, so skinny... Shikamaru's worries increased tenfold just from being able to see his best friend's bones beneath his skin, the red pill having wreaked full havoc on his body. But Godaime had claimed him healed, in bad condition but no danger of dying anymore, so really, there was nothing to be afraid of anymore. Chouji would probably be out and eating to regain the weight he'd lost in no time.

For the moment, though, Ino was slumped against the bed, eyes red and puffy from crying, Chouji's father patting her on the back (even though his eyes were bright with unshed tears as well). They both looked up as Shikamaru entered the room and his guilt turned even worse, feeling that because he had been leader and had let Chouji stay behind, that friends and family should turn all their frustration and fear on him. But neither made any move to be hostile; Ino stood, all but ran across the room, and hugged him fiercely, sobbing against his chest and wailing that they were alive and that they had better not try to leave her behind again; she was so worried. Shikamaru apologized under his breath, hugging her in return, tears dampening her hair as he leaned his cheek on top of her head. Chouza came over and hugged them both after a while, telling them quietly that he was happy his son had such good friends.

When Chouji woke up two days later, Ino and Shikamaru were both asleep, leaning against his bed. He smiled weakly but broadly and woke them up by hugging them just as his father had, echoing the exact same sentiment.

Ino cried again from relief, and Shikamaru came very close to doing the same.

_Author's Notes: I like most of this, up until the end. :\ I think I ran outta gas on it. The challenge was "Write about a near-death experience." And yes, I hate the title too._


	9. InoShika : Massage

**Massage**

"Shikamaru, you look like an idiot, walking around like that."

The Chuunin looked up at his fiancé with his patented scowl/pout and tossed himself down onto the couch of their apartment face-first. He and Ino had, some time ago, decided to move in together. It was mainly so that neither went insane at the hands of their parents, partially because both wanted some more elbow room, and entirely because they were going to be married anyway by the end of the year. (Shikamaru had seen no point in putting off the inevitable, especially if it meant some added quiet from the lack of his mother.) Chouji was considering taking up residence in their spare room (it _was _a two-bedroom apartment and yet they only wound up using one room), but for the moment, it was only the two of them.

Shikamaru had just returned from a two-week-long mission to Iwagakure, five days of which were spent fighting or moving with utmost care, and by the time he crossed the threshold to the apartment, his shoulders were stiff from stress. He could actually feel the muscle knots, most located right between his shoulderblades, twisting painfully with his every movement. His lower back ached from walking nearly nonstop for the last stretch of the journey home, since they couldn't stop or else risk being overcome by their pursuers. Ino now had her hands on her hips, watching him with a mixture of annoyance and pity in her sky blue eyes.

He waved a hand at her dismissively, ignoring the pain that shot up his spine from the movement. "Just need to sit down for a minute. S'been a long two weeks."

"I can tell," she said, easing herself onto the edge of the couch so that she could sit beside him. She jabbed two fingertips right into one of the muscle knots, making him jump and yelp in surprised agony. "Yeah, I can _see_ those knots. What were you guys _doing?"_

"The mission," he said stubbornly, not wanting to talk about it. She understood, though she didn't let him slip past a gently chiding "lazy ass."

He smirked into the couch cushion, relaxing but still fairly miserable, until he felt her hands on his shoulders again. He tensed further, hissing gently in pain, but relaxed again as he felt gentle warmth pulsing from her fingertips and into his pained shoulders. He let out a contented sigh as she started to massage the knots out, a slow smile spreading across his face.

"Since when do you know how to massage like this?" he asked, turning his head to the side so that he could talk to her. She smirked at him, digging her thumbs into tensed muscle and easing the pain of it with a gentle flow of chakra.

"Since Hinata told me how," she replied, and Shikamaru gave a dazed nod, understanding now that the heat from her hands was, in fact, chakra. She was slowly working every knot out of his back, gently kneading his shoulders until the tension eased. His efforts at suppressing a relieved moan failed when she leaned forward, chest to the back of his shoulders, and pressed a kiss against the base of his neck.

"Better?" she asked, breath tickling him, her voice in her infamous seductive tone. She knew very well the power she held over him, especially when that tone was employed, and wasn't afraid to use it.

He, on the other hand, wasn't afraid to stay put for a while longer. "No. Keep going."

Ino frowned. "You ass. There aren't any knots left."

"Didn't say there were. Keep going."

_Author's Notes: Spark word was 'massage.' We at IMN had been talking about chakra massages (our Asuma had a dream involving one and I was far too amused with the idea), and so this was spawned. Not sure if I like the ending or not, so I might come back and work on it again sometime._


	10. TemaShika : Another Boring Day

**Another Boring Day**

Another boring day. And, to top it all off, Temari was still recovering from an injury from her latest mission. Her back was killing her, forcing her to stay home when she could be doing something constructive. Not that she could really complain. With the pain in her back, she wouldn't want to be training, much less fighting. She let out an annoyed squeel, flopped down on the couch, and stared at the ceiling, taking only a second to wince.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, had only just woken up. He trained better in late afternoon anyway (longer shadows and all that) and saw no need in ever seeing the morning hours. Stretching and yawning, he tramped into the living room, cracking an eye open when he could sense Temari in the room. Blatantly ignoring that it was just past noon, he greeted her with a "mornin'."

"Afternoon!" was Temari's yelled reply as she attempted to sit up. "Do you have any idea how long I've been up!" Bored as all hell. By now, she'd sat up all the way, but not without much effort. Automatically, her hands moved to massage her lower back. Not that that helped much, really.

"Probably since the asscrack of dawn," he replied, ambling over and sitting down next to her, muddy brown eyes concerned. He frowned at her, giving her an analytical look. "What happened to your back?"

She frowned, annoyed that he hadn't noticed last night when she'd returned from her mission. He'd probably been to anxious to sleep to notice she was even there. "Damn Sound nin got a hit in. Just happened to be a good one."

Orochimaru was still a threat, even though he hadn't shown his face for quite some time. Periodically, spy missions were assigned. Temari had been joyed by the idea of it, but now she wished she'd just taken the stupid escort mission instead.

He sighed. "If it's bothering you so much, you should see a medic-nin."

He knew she wouldn't, unless she was on her death bed, but it needed to be said. He leaned back on the couch, still watching her carefully, trying to figure out just how much it was bothering her.

"No way!" she replied, nose scrunching up in disgust. She wasn't about to admit to weakness. No, she could take the pain.

It was then that she attempted to stand again to show him that she fine. Bad idea. Just leaning forward enough to pull herself up was enough to send a sharp pain throughout her entire back, sending her back down, hitting her head on the back of the couch.

He shook his head at her and reached over, wordlessly taking a hold of her shoulders and pulling her gently towards him. He knew that the motion would hurt a bit, but he made up for it by carefully focusing chakra to his fingertips and massaging her shoulders slowly.

"Troublesome woman," he chided her jokingly.

She'd opened her mouth to yell at him for hurting her more, but instantly shut it, letting out a content sigh when he started massaging. For a moment, she wondered why he'd never told her he could do that before, but the thought was brushed aside as he worked. It felt good!

He rolled his eyes and scowled at the back of her head as his thumbs hit one hell of a muscle knot. He added more chakra to his fingertips to try and work it out without causing too much pain. He silently marveled at the fact that she could even move with a knot like that in her back, but kept up the light teasing. "You need to learn how to relax."

"You do enough for the both of us," she said, eyes closed. As he worked on the knot, the pain subsided a little. "You need to learn how to get up before lunchtime."

"Bah, that's too troublesome," he grumbled. "Not like I can train before the afternoon anyway."

"Oh! I've got an idea! Learn things you can use before the afternoon!" she exclaimed. "What if something happened in the morning and you were called to fight? Would you tell them to wait til the afternoon to start?" Not even a second later, she corrected herself. "Nevermind, I don't even want to know the answer." She suspected he'd either say yes or some smart ass answer.

He smirked, amused that she knew him well enough by then to correct herself on such a subject. "I know what I can do before the afternoon, it's just not much. We always trained in the morning when I was a genin." After a moment's pause, he added, "And my shadow jutsus won't work at high noon at all."

"Have you ever considered trying something other than shadow jutsus?" she asked, though she really couldn't say much on that subject. Sure, she knew other things (and she knew he did as well,) but she relied heavily on her fan and wind jutsus.

"Yes." He trained with kunai and shuriken just as often as he trained basic and shadow jutsus, and his aim was pretty damn good. He was no Tenten, but he could hit his targets a good majority of the time.

"How about getting up early to train with them. You'd get more-" She paused as he hit another large knot before continuing. "done that way." Plus, maybe then she could train with him more.

He purposely lessened the chakra flow just to make the going a bit less smooth, just to get his emotions across about waking up earlier. "I'd rather not."

"Ow!" Obviously, he'd gotten his point across. She'd have to attack him in his sleep one morning once this stupid injury was gone just to smite him. "If you're not gonna do it right, STOP!"

He snickered quietly and focused his chakra again, this time being more gentle to make up for it (and possibly avoid revenge, though he doubted that). He propped his chin on her shoulder, grinning slightly as he continued to work out the knots in her back. "Yeah, yeah, I'll do it right."

It didn't take much longer for Temari to be able to relax her tense muscles a little. The relief was almost enough to make her jump for joy, but she still didn't dare. Bad back, you know. Instead, she decided she'd do something for Shikamaru in return.

Once he was satisfied that he had worked out every knot, he slumped against her, wrapping his arms around her loosely. "Better now?"

She answered by leaning into him and letting out another sigh. She most certainly did feel better. Perhaps she could pull Shikamaru outside to train. Or maybe she'd thank him by not. He'd be spared again by his fingers' wonderful ability to bring her such pleasure.

He took that as a yes and grinned, pressing a light kiss against the side of her neck as a "you're welcome". As much as she drove him insane, he was glad to be able to help her for a change.

She shifted, bringing her lips to his in a quick, light kiss. "Where did you learn to do that?"

"Neji," he said with a shrug. Who else but a Hyuuga would figure something like that out?

"Tight laces does massages. What doesn't the guy do?" Don't get the wrong idea. She admired the Hyuuga for his abilities and strength, but other than that, she couldn't stand to be around him for too long. He could be a cendescending jerk-off, and that never went well with Temari. Still, she couldn't resist her next statements. "Maybe I should be with him. Then I might get more of those massages. Probably better ones, too."

Sigh. "Ungrateful woman. Can't even appreciate a massage."

"Of course I appreciate it! Hmph. Can't even take a joke."

He tightened his hold on her, pulling her closer against him, and smirked. "Good. Because it was a pain in the ass. I'd rather have it be appreciated."

"Yeah, yeah." Despite her uninterested tone, she snuggled into him, finiding a comfortable position and finally relaxing her entire body. "Do you want a prize?"

"That'd be nice."

"Well? What do you want?"

He shrugged, staying silent and acting as if he didn't care.

She rolled her eyes and said, "You won't get anything unless you tell me what you want."

"Yeah, yeah... Just you is fine." He was perfectly content just sitting there like they were. Not that he would mind if she were to move, but just this was acceptable.

"You already have me," she replied through a short laugh. "Fine, I'm all yours today. I'll do just about anything you want." Keywords: just about. There's always a catch.

He didn't miss her careful wording, but nevertheless grinned at her. A plan started forming in his mind, carefully taking into account the 'just about' she'd thrown in. "All mine, huh."

From his words, she knew he'd thought of something. "What do you have in mind?" she asked cautiously.

"Nothing," he lied, knowing she'd see right through it, and leaned back slowly to lie down on the couch, dragging her along with him. Keeping up his nonchalant act, he continued, "Maybe a nap later."

"No, I think you had something else planned." To her relief, the unexpected movement wasnt' painful at all.

"What makes you think that?" he asked, still grinning. One thing could be said for waking up at noon: When he did wake up, he was wide awake. Teasing Temari came just as easily as it would in the mid-afternoon.

What could be considered both a good thing and a sad thing would be that Temari could tell even the slightest difference in Shikamaru's voice. She could tell that he was smiling, or maybe even grinning. "What's keeping you from telling me what you really want?" A smirk began to form as she said the words.

He kissed just behind her right ear amusedly. "I'm sure you already know what I want, that's what."

"Well, you won't get anything until I hear you say it." If he knew anything about her, he had to know she was stubborn. She'd set her mind to hearing it, and that's what she was going to do. Either he could say it, or he'd get nothing. That's all there was to it.

"I already did say it," he argued, only slightly annoyed that she was just as stubborn as always even after the massage. "I said I wanted you."

"Ok." It was close enough. "Then take me."

He loosened his hold on her so that she would be able to turn around, but his grin faded for a quick moment. "Are you sure your back feels better enough for this?"

Answering his question with another question, she asked, "Are you confident in your abilities?"

He snorted. "Confident enough to wonder if I'll need to give you another massage."

Finally turning around to face him, propping herself up, she looked into his eyes. That comment sounded about as confident as she carried herself, which seemed odd for Shikamaru, but, she told herself, he was probably joking or meant it in another way. "I would thoroughly enjoy another massage."

"Troublesome woman," he said with a low chuckle, then pressed his lips against hers.

_Author's Notes: Those at the shikatemari community at Livejournal have probably already seen this. XD;; I was bitching at TurboRikku about her derailing my train of thought on the previous drabble and we wound up with a TemaShika version. We were bored, have mercy._

_This is technically a roleplay, so credit where it's due: TurboRikku was Temari, I was Shikamaru._


	11. Ino : Prayer

**Prayer**

Dear God, I know I don't pray very often. And I know I haven't exactly been the best kid out there... I'm sorry about kicking Shikamaru when he naps and stealing Chouji's chips when he's hungry. And for flushing Asuma-sensei's cigarettes all those times. For stealing Shikamaru's clothes while he was in the shower once and throwing them out on the lawn.

Alright, maybe not once, maybe it was a few times, but I'm still sorry.

I'm sorry about calling Chouji a fatass and for messing up Shikamaru's Go game while he went to the bathroom. Sorry for hiding Daddy's kunai that one time to stop him from going on a mission just because I didn't want him to miss my birthday. Sorry for blabbing to Lee that Sakura was the one leaving him flowers after she told me not to. I'm _really _sorry that I didn't follow Shikamaru and Chouji on that stupid mission to drag back Sasuke and they almost died. I'm sorry I didn't do something better to thank Temari for saving Shikamaru's lazy ass. I'm sorry I hugged Chouji too hard when he woke up and hurt him again.

I'm starting to forget what I was praying about in the first place, so let's just say I'm sorry about anything bad I've done, okay? I really am sorry. Really.

So please, please, _please _make sure Chouji and Shikamaru get me something good for my birthday tomorrow. I was even nice to Shikamaru today. I deserve this just this once, right?

Thank you and amen.

_Author's Notes: Challenge was "Write a story in the form of a prayer." There isn't enough stuff out there in which our twelve-year-old ninjas ACT like twelve-year-olds, and so this was born. :) I like it._


	12. TemaShika & Twins : Life Plan

**Life Plan**

"Look, Daddy, a butterfly!"

He looks up along the length of his daughter's skinny arm with its knobby elbow and bony wrist and past her long, pointed index finger. Sure enough, a blue and violet butterfly is fluttering along high above the deer paddock, where they're lying in a patch of clover under the lone sakura tree. It's deep summer, the clover springy and comfortable and somewhat damp with the heat, the tree's deep green leaves drooping slightly towards them and rustling in the gentle breeze.

The butterfly alights on the tip of one stag's antler, the deer completely unconcerned as it continues grazing. His daughter giggles before giving a jaw-cracking yawn, stretching like a cat with her back against his stomach, and settles comfortably again with a dreamy smile on her face. Her muddy brown eyes, glazed over drowsily, turn to the fluffy white clouds overhead, scudding slowly through the baby blue sky.

It's times like these that he knows, really _knows, _that she's his daughter. He gently musses her sandy blonde hair and she swats halfheartedly at him, too comfortable to move and actually get a good smack in. He chuckles and stops, she makes a quiet whining noise in the back of her throat, and they're back to silence.

He loves the peace and quiet between missions for this reason. The twins are always glad to have him around as their personal living couch and, when she's around, his wife is always glad to have him around again to have someone to abuse lightly. He still calls her troublesome, to this day, but she counts it as a pet name and counters with "lazy ass."

He considers that a pet name as well, and always rolls his eyes to cover up the smile threatening to cover his face.

He can sense her, lurking somewhere (probably either behind the tree or amongst its crowded branches) with the second half of the twins, just waiting to pounce the two dozing Naras in the paddock, but he does nothing about it. They enjoy torturing them, nobody's ever been hurt, no harm done.

He is surprised, though, when Shikako's hands move slowly into the seal of the rat, resting quietly against her flat tummy, lips moving silently. He marks the movement of her shadow over the clover from the corner of his eye, suppressing an amused snort when she snags her twin's ankle with it and trips her, stopping the ambush.

"Shikako!" Temari scolds, dropping from her hiding place in the branches to land beside their dark-haired, tripped daughter. "What have I told you about using that against your sister!"

"Yeah, yeah, I won't do it again," Shikako drawls, remarkably detached for a six year old.

"One 'yeah' is enough!"

Shikamaru fails to suppress the laughter now, jarring Shikako in her resting spot across his stomach. She rolls off of him irritatedly, swatting at him again and grumping about him being a lousy pillow.

Samara is already up from her fall, knee scuffed to match the other one (and her elbows, though they're covered by band-aids), her feral grin in place despite her lack of two front teeth. Midnight blue eyes flashing in challenge (she thinks he's laughing at her), she pounces her father with a bellow of "GOT YOU!" and tickles under his arms fiercely because she knows that's his one ticklish spot.

Her mother taught her everything she knows (almost) about pouncing him, so it's only natural that she's damn good at it.

Shikako gives him the look he patented ages ago, half pout, half frown. "Daddy, you're really dumb sometimes."

Temari is now laughing just as hard as he was -- he now has Samara restrained with shadows to keep her from tickling him more -- and he sighs, muttering about how troublesome all three of them are.

He loves them anyway, even if they did completely throw off his life plan.

_Author's Notes: Eh-heh-heh... y'see, TurboRikku and I came up with the twins for our RPG, Sunstrokeruspg at Livejournal. Temari's pregnant and we wanted to make Shikamaru suffer as much as possible, thus the twin girls. Shikako was the first name decided on, then Samara (yes, from the Ring) because we wanted her to be the Evil Twin that takes after her mother. X3;; I love them dearly already._

_And shout-outs, because I love my reviewers._

_Twin Sun Leader: Aww, thank you very much for the fave! Sorry about the shortness, but... well, most of these are exercises in trying to bust up writer's block, so I either hit a brick wall or end up hating what I wrote. Eh-heh... this one's the exception, though. Hope the length was good enough._

_Blue-Fire310: Haha, thanks! I'll be continuing until I finish every challenge in my writer's block book, which could take a while. XD;; I'm sure y'all will be sick of the drabbles by the time I'm done._

_Kaeru Soyokaze: Thank you! I'm probably gonna skirt around the angst from here on in, but you can count on the humor and fluff. (I'm so happy you reviewed. I love your stuff. X3)_

_bakusensei: More TemaShika right here:D It's hard for me to write, though; Temari escapes me. That's why I had TurboRikku play out "Another Boring Day" with me. Hopefully I can get better at Temari and balance out the InoShika and TemaShika ratio for the drabbles. (Ino's a lot easier to write, in my opinion, hence the slight favoring of InoShika. I like both pairings equally, really. XD;;)_

_link no miko::glomps back: The rabbit is happy to have made your night! And team dynamics... hah. I should do one based off of our BBQ thread and have a food fight or something. (But then Chouji would be upset and that would be bad.)_


	13. InoShika, NejiTen : Mist and Shadow

**Mist and Shadow**

They left home some week or so ago, a team of four, on a mission with a 50 success rate. They completed the mission with no problems whatsoever, with two geniuses on the team and two cunning kunoichi with wicked aim.

They are merely walking to the nearest village to rest (rather than heading home) after their success when they are ambushed, caught completely by surprise because none of them know the Water country very well and all four are tired anyway. Apparently, the real kicker of the mission was not the assassination itself, but escaping the lackies of the assassinated afterwards, the ones who had stayed hidden in the swirling mists until the opportune moment arose.

It is dark, the moonlight illuminating the thick mists lying heavily over the terrain with an eerie blue glow. It is bitingly cold, as the platinum blonde keeps grumping as she rubs her arms to warm them even after her old friend has sighed heavily and surrendered his long sleeved sweatshirt to her. He is shivering silently in his mesh shirt now, too stubborn to admit that he's freezing while she is still cold.

The other two teammates were prepared for the cold and roll their eyes at the younger ones, the weapons master kunoichi about to speak up and chide them gently when the senbon zoom in from nowhere, arcing through the air out of the mists with silent but deadly accuracy. Her companion spins, an explosion of chakra knocking the senbon aside, though the other two team members do not fare so well.

Shikamaru is all but a human pincushion, since he heard the high-pitched keen of something whistling its way towards them and blocked Ino from most of the senbon. She has a few poking from her left shoulder, though she seems not to have noticed, instead gripping Shikamaru by the shoulders and shouting at him to stay concious.

"Yeah, yeah," he drawls, a weak grin on his face. She grits her teeth and holds him up as he has done for her countless times, egging him on to stay with her. Tenten and Neji have already gone back to back, Tenten lobbing weapons into the dark mists while Neji gives her directions with his Byakugan. A second volley of senbon rain down and Neji Kaitens them aside again, though he is now panting slightly from sheer exhaustion.

Ino covers Shikamaru this time, glad to be of some help. He scolds her for doing such a stupid thing; she gently hits him upside the head.

It isn't long before Tenten has finished off their attackers as well as both her and Neji's supplies of weaponry. Ino plucks the senbon from Shikamaru's back and arms, fighting off tears of worry as he begins to doze off. He idly pulls a few needles from her shoulder, mumbling something about troublesome women always covering for him before he drops off into unconciousness. Tenten calmly stops Ino from shaking him to death before she, too, falls to her knees from exhaustion. Neji sighs, catches her before she hits the ground, and eases down carefully to sit in the damp, misty grass.

It would have been easier during the day, this battle, even with the mist. Shikamaru would have had his shadows, Ino the light to see by for Shintenshin or even Shinranshin. Tenten would have been able to retrieve some of her weapons for a prolonged assault, Neji wouldn't have had to use what little chakra was left in him to use his Byakugan for her to see by. But nothing is easy, as Shikamaru is so fond of saying; nothing is _ever _easy. Only troublesome.

Neji takes up the watch, tired as he is, as they all crouch like weak and frightened animals in a huddle. Tenten is asleep almost immediately, curled against his side with her mouth slightly open as she dreams. Ino dozes off, draped across Shikamaru's chest, hugging him even as she sleeps. Shikamaru awakes as dawn begins to lighten the sky, silently letting Neji know that he can get some rest. As the Hyuuga leans against Tenten, closing achingly tired white eyes, Shikamaru fixes his gaze on the sky, watching the stars fade into the morning and blue creeps between thickly crowded greyish clouds like spilled paint. He smiles, still hurting, and wraps an arm around Ino loosely.

'All shall fade,' he thinks as the final star dims into the morning light. Ino mumbles something in her sleep and burrows closer against his chest; he winces, but the pain almost immediately subsides.

'All shall fade.'

_Author's Notes: And this, my friends, is why I shouldn't listen to the Return of the King soundtrack while writing Naruto drabbles. XD I get totally sidetracked. This was NOT what I was going to write tonight, but hell, I like the imagery. (I was, by the way, going to write something about Chouji or Gaara -- or possibly both -- finding a phone number on a bathroom wall and calling it "for a good time", not knowing what it meant. Eh-he-he. Maybe tomorrow.)_

_Also, and this is my bad, 'Mari, who I've been calling TurboRikku all this time? Yeah, she's changed her pen name to Darth Suna. So sorry for any confusion. XD;; Muchos sorries._

_Shout-out_

_Blue-Fire310: I love you. :D Thank you very much for the kind review! (And I agree totally on Teams Ten and Gai. They're just too damn cool for words. Hence why four of the six ended up in this drabble. XD;;)_


	14. TemaShika & Twins : Life Lessons

**Life Lessons**

Shikamaru learned the valuable lesson to never let his daughters out of his sight when they were seven years old.

He had thought, since each was a small ball of energy and destruction, that they would be able to keep each other in check and would know better than to, say, accept candy from strangers. Which they did know better about, he could credit them for that. But they were incapable of keeping each other in check because one was just as bad as the other when it came to something fun.

He had let them run off on their own at the beginning of the festival, happy to have some time alone with Temari for a change. The married couple had milled around the festival grounds, enjoying their day off from the Terrible Twins (as Iruka had frustratedly nicknamed them upon their arrival in the Academy), but when night had fallen, he began to wonder where they were. Neither had come by at any point demanding more money for games or food, neither had come running up and insisted that he carry their massive teddy bear prize, neither had come up complaining that the other had dumped sno cone syrup down the front of their kimono.

The peace was really quite worrying.

Temari, too, was fairly unnerved by their absence. Slightly after their usual dinnertime, they went in search of their daughters, prowling the festival grounds in search of any signs of destruction.

Shikamaru was the one to find them both. Part of him was proud of Shikako's quick thinking (it was obviously Shikako's thinking, because no other seven year old could spot a loophole like she could), part of him was horrified, and yet another part was amused beyond belief.

Below a sign reading "COTTON CANDY -- MAKE YOUR OWN -- FIRST IS FREE", Shikako stood back and watched her twin sister preparing her free, make-your-own cotton candy. Shikako's entire right arm was encased in a large pink cloud of fluffy sugar; she was nonchalantly nibbling at where her fist should be, left arm clamped around the insanely large teddy bear he was sure one of them would win. Samara was gleefully swirling both arms around in the cotton candy maker, the vendor looking ultimately distressed.

Once he dragged both girls away after a profuse apology, he shot an accusing stare at the blonde-haired, brown-eyed half of the twins. She gave him a bored stare in response.

"Didn't say anywhere that we had to use the sticks," she said with a shrug.

_Author's Notes: True story, this. My friend Padfoot and I, back when we were eleven or twelve, were at a festival that had one of those free, make-your-own cotton candy things. Padfoot went to get the stick and I gleefully pointed out that they didn't say a thing about the stick. We wandered off about fifteen minutes later with sugar-coated arms. XD_

_Shout-outs_

_**Blue-Fire310: **X3;; I've been entertaining the thought of those four as a team for a while now. They just work. I'll have to throw in Chouji and Lee next time to make it into a real fun-fest._

_**Kaeru Soyokaze: **:offers tissue: Thank you very much!_

_**Darth Suna: **You win again, luv. It's what you get for helping me create a monster(s)._


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